


Asylum

by mountain_born



Series: The Marvelous Tale of an Agent, an Archer, and an Assassin [57]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Doctor Who/Avengers Crossover Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-12 22:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21483949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountain_born/pseuds/mountain_born
Summary: In which a familiar figure turns up on the Doctor's doorstep following the Convergence.
Series: The Marvelous Tale of an Agent, an Archer, and an Assassin [57]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/34399
Comments: 33
Kudos: 54





	Asylum

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost, thanks and kudos go out to my beta, **like-a-raven** for being an incredible support in writing and, well, basically everything else.
> 
> After writing this fic, I now have the urge to visit a certain island. I hope its citizens will forgive me for taking one or two artistic liberties with the town we visit in this story.
> 
> Happy reading!

_March 12, 2013_  
_Greenwich, London_  
_Royal Naval College ~ Secure SHIELD/UNIT Site_

No one paid any attention to the agent with the green tie. 

Like many of the other agents, both SHIELD and UNIT, he walked to and fro around the Dark Elves’ ship, head bent over a data pad, too preoccupied to stop and chat. When the evening grew darker and the rain began in earnest, he kept largely to the sides of the buildings, under the eaves. Periodically he stopped by the small mobile kitchen for a hot cup of tea and a biscuit. 

But later on, in the unlikely event that anyone were to make enquiries, people would be hard pressed to say anything about him. He was just an unremarkable man in an unremarkable suit. Even the green tie wasn’t green enough to be noteworthy. 

He stood under an eave and watched the alien ship. Not the giant monstrosity from Svartelheim; the tiny blue box sitting in its shadow.

In due time, activity at the site began to quiet down for the night. It would be weeks, if not months, before SHIELD and UNIT left this are, but night time did bring a certain lull. The agent watched until two men emerged from the Dark Elves’ ship. Thor and the Doctor stood in the open, in the rain, talking. They were too far away for any part of their conversation to be overheard. Eventually the Doctor smiled and extended his hand for Thor to shake. With one final word, the Doctor ducked back into the TARDIS. Thor stood alone for several moments before he swung his hammer in a circle and flew off into the night.

The agent waited until he was certain no one was observing, then approached the TARDIS and knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately.

The Doctor looked him up and down. “I wondered when I’d be seeing you, Loki.”

Loki allowed his disguise to drop. The Doctor could see through it anyway, and shedding the appearance of the nameless agent here in the open was a gesture of good faith. 

And with any luck it would encourage the Doctor to move this conversation indoors.

“Doctor.” Loki assumed an air of humility that did not come at all naturally to him. “I’ve come to ask for asylum.”

The Doctor regarded him silently for one or two dramatic moments, then opened the door wider. “I rather thought you might. Come in. The kettle’s already on.”

*****

“After Thor left me on Svartalfheim I waited and then found a crack where I could slip through to Midgard,” Loki said. “The Convergence made it easier than usual. When I saw the TARDIS here I decided that the best course was to lay low until I could speak with you alone.”

“Mmmm,” the Doctor said noncommittally as he wedged another sandwich onto the plate of food he’d assembled from the kitchen cupboards. He carried the plate over to the table and set it down. Loki dug in faster than his well-cultivated cool demeanor would generally allow. 

“And why come to me?” the Doctor asked, sitting down across from him. “Why fake your death at all? Why not just go home to Asgard?”

Loki managed to make a face even around a large bite of sandwich. He swallowed and reached for his mug of tea. “Because I can’t say I like the prospect of spending the rest of my life in captivity,” he said. “If I return to Asgard, Father will send me straight back to the dungeons. You know he will. Assuming he doesn’t decide to throw mercy to the wind altogether.”

Loki was probably right about that, the Doctor thought, if for no other reason than pride. Odin did not deal with open defiance well. (Really, most kings didn’t.) And Loki had made something of a public spectacle of himself, first trying to seize the Asgardian throne and then leading an attack on Earth, which Asgard considered one of its sister realms. Odin might well throw the book at Loki just to save face.

“What about Thor?” the Doctor asked. “You’re just going to let him go on thinking you’re dead? He’s grieving for you, and right on the heels of losing your mother, too.”

It was something of a low blow to bring up Frigga because the Doctor knew that her death would have hit Loki hard. A pained look crossed Loki’s face.

“Isn’t it kinder this way?” he said. “As far as Thor knows I died trying to help him defeat Malekith, quick and clean. He no longer has to worry about me, and he’ll not be caught between me and Father.” Loki shrugged. “Thor is, at heart, an uncomplicated soul. This is better for him.”

“Very well.” There was no getting around the fact that there was some truth to Loki’s reasoning. “So, you can’t go home and I gather you fear the long arm of Odin’s justice, therefore you come to me. And what makes you so sure I’ll help you?”

Loki’s hand froze briefly as he set down his mug. The Doctor saw a few spiderweb cracks appear in his confidence. 

“Because that’s what you do. You help people,” Loki said, recovering himself. “You’re somewhat known for it.”

“I try to,” the Doctor said, leaning back and propping his feet on a corner of the table. “In fact, not so very long ago I got a call for help. It was from River. You remember River? She called me for help because the man she loves had been abducted and brainwashed, and because the person responsible was threatening her world with destruction.”

“Er.” Loki looked rather as if he’d just spotted a fatal error in his calculations. 

“You mounted an attack on this world, which I hold very dear.” The Doctor’s tone hardened. “You killed hundreds and injured far more. You kidnapped one of my friends and forced him to turn on his own people. You stabbed another through the chest and left him for dead. So, give me one good reason why I should help you.”

He could see wheels spinning behind Loki’s eyes as he quickly adjusted his strategy.

“Doctor, we’ve known each other a long time. When I was a child--”

“Yes, when you were a child I was. . .what was it you called me when I visited you in SHIELD Detention? _A very amusing nursemaid, nothing more._ I’m not sure such a relationship is grounds for me lying to your father and brother, not mention effectively betraying my friends.” The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Loki. “Try again.”

“I can be of use to you.” Loki sounded just the slightest bit desperate. “I know you’ve been trying to dig up information about River Song. Barton told me everything about her. Let me stay and I’ll tell you everything you want to know and more.”

“You mean the fact that she’s my companions’ daughter, part Time Lord, and was raised to be my bespoke assassin? I already got that memo.”  
Loki seemed to shrink a little, an air of resignation settling over him. “So, you won’t help me.”  


The Doctor allowed Loki to sweat for a moment before he rolled his eyes and took his feet off the table. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’m going to help you.”  


Loki looked up sharply. “What? But I thought you . .”  


“Oh, make no mistake. There will be conditions attached. There will be a line for you to toe.” The Doctor folded his hands on the table again and allowed his expression to soften. “But yes, I’ll help you. I’d do it for your mother’s sake if nothing else.”  


If Frigga were still alive the Doctor might (maybe) consider delivering Loki back to Asgard. Frigga and Thor together would have been able to keep Odin from going overboard in the justice department. But Frigga was gone along with the measure of protection she could give her son. As her friend, the Doctor would take her place as well as he could.  


He would help Loki for Loki’s sake, too. Hadn’t Loki always been his favorite of the two Asgardian princes? The Doctor had always seen a lot of himself in Loki, and still did. And really, he’d done far worse things than Loki had in his time.  


“Thank you.” Loki closed his eyes briefly. “Yes, whatever conditions you deem appropriate, I’ll abide by. Thank you.”  


“Well, the first condition is information,” the Doctor said. “Thanos. Tell me everything you know.”

*****

Last spring during Loki’s ill-fated attempt to conquer Earth, the Doctor had sent out some feelers, trying to figure out who was backing the wayward son of Asgard. His late, lamented friend Dorium, purveyor of all things informative, had come through with the answer.  


_“Loki’s fallen in with Thanos, an especially nasty intergalactic warlord,”_ Dorium had told him. _Thanos wants the Tesseract. He’s promised Loki an army to help him conquer Earth in exchange for delivering it. All your young Asgardian friend has to do is use the Tesseract to open a wormhole and let his army through.”_  


That covered the most pertinent questions, but it had left the Doctor with several others, the first of which being how Loki had gone from falling from the Bifrost to being in Thanos’ service in the first place.

“I don’t know how his people found me,” Loki said. “I was falling through the void, then there was nothing. When I woke up I was on a ship. The captain told me that they had picked me up and were taking me to Thanos.”

“Why?” The Doctor paced slowly back and forth in front of Loki’s chair. They’d left the kitchen and retired to the TARDIS’s library to talk. “A random would-be corpse floating in space? What made you so interesting that the big man would want to see you?”

“They didn’t tell me directly,” Loki said. “I gather that they had somehow identified me as being from Asgard. Thanos was intrigued by that. As it turned out, he had an interest in Odin’s treasure room.”

He paused. The Doctor passed silently back and forth in front of him twice before twirling his hand in a _keep going_ gesture. Loki cleared his throat and went on.

“Thanos wanted the Tesseract, as you know. As far as he knew it was on Asgard in the vaults under the palace, not exactly an easy target. When I told him that his intelligence was outdated and that the Tesseract was on Earth, an unassuming little planet with no real defenses to speak of. . .well that’s when he started planning.”

The Doctor snorted, but decided not to address the “no real defenses” comment. 

“So, Thanos backed your bid to conquer the Earth in exchange for the Tesseract. And I’m guessing continued fealty? You’d be king, but Thanos would still be overlord?”

“Yes.”

“Only the bid failed,” the Doctor went on. “Earth ended up being quite well defended, the army that Thanos provided you was destroyed, you were captured, and the Tesseract is now safely back on Asgard. The mission was a failure on all counts.”

“Well, you don’t have to rub it in,” Loki grumbled. 

The Doctor stopped pacing and took the chair across from Loki. “_Why_ did he want the Tesseract. Did he say?”

“For its ability to create portals. That’s what he said. He would have been able to move his forces anywhere in the universe in a matter of seconds. That sort of thing is highly useful for a despot bent on domination.”

“Hmm.” The Doctor looked thoughtful. “That was the only reason?”

“The only one that he mentioned. Why?”

“Just curious,” the Doctor said. “What else can you tell me about him?”

“He doesn’t tolerate failure well.” Loki looked grim. “He showed me in rather graphic detail what happens to people who fail him and suggested that it would be to my benefit to make myself of use.”

“Another reason you’d like asylum?” the Doctor guessed.

Loki just shrugged, which the Doctor took as an affirmative.

“If you want more extensive insight into the man’s mind, I’m afraid I won’t be of much help,” Loki said. “The truth is, I didn’t speak to him in person more than a handful of times. He has a number of lieutenants that he delegates to. I was dealing mostly with them.”

“No, that’s all right. What you’ve told me is helpful.” The Doctor clapped his hands on his knees and pushed himself up again. “Well, it’s late and judging by the state of you, you need sleep. To bed with you. We’ll discuss the other conditions of your asylum in the morning.”

*****

The Doctor showed Loki to a room. Loki must have been even more exhausted than he was letting on because he face-planted onto the bed fully clothed. The Doctor left him to get himself sorted out and made his way up to the control room and outside.

He took a deep breath of the damp night air and looked up at the sky. In spite of the cloud cover and the light pollution he could see a star or two winking through. Determined things, stars. 

Loki’s description of Thanos was about what the Doctor had expected, which was a relief. Well, _relief_ was perhaps not the best descriptor, but if Thanos had only wanted the Tesseract as a transportation device, that meant he didn’t know what else it was capable of. And he probably had no idea what he’d had in the staff he’d given to Loki, which was now locked away at SHIELD. 

Just as well. The fewer people who knew about Infinity Stones, the better in the long run (it cut down on ill-advised quests). No, it sounded like Thanos was the garden variety warlord, out for power and not overly burdened with brains. A nasty piece of work to be sure, but that type was a dime a dozen on any given planet, let alone in the Universe at large. Probably best if Loki avoided him though. Yet another reason for the Doctor to keep the boy under his wing.

The Doctor wasn’t sure what Loki had in mind when he’d asked for asylum. The Doctor wasn’t entirely sure what he himself had in mind when he’d agreed to grant it, but he had a few ideas. It would take a bit of setting up, but fortunately he also had a time machine. He would be able to have everything ready to go by the time Loki got up in the morning. 

“Right,” the Doctor said to those few determined stars twinkling overhead. “Time to get to work.”

_*****_

_The Following Morning_  
_Peel, Isle of Man_

Two men stood on a low, bare hill, overlooking the town. One was tall, gangly, and dressed like an eccentric professor in a tweed coat and bow tie. The other was equally tall and gangly, and looked a bit more like a fisherman with his cabled sweater and long black hair tied back at the nape of his neck. 

To their north, at the foot of the hill, was a long narrow harbor. The small, picturesque town of Peel spread out behind it. The cathedral tower rose above the grey roofs of the surrounding buildings. The west side of the town was skirted by a curved sandy beach. A small island lay just off-shore, the ruins of an old castle rising like jagged black teeth against the morning sky,

The Doctor stretched his arms wide and took a deep, bracing breath of sea air. “Glorious, isn’t it?”

His companion seemed somewhat less enthusiastic. “You _must_ be joking,” Loki said. 

Loki surveyed their surroundings with enough dismay to suggest that the Doctor had landed them in the middle of a garbage dump. This was, the Doctor would admit, probably a far cry from what Loki had in mind.

“You know, when you agreed to give me asylum, I rather thought I would just stay on the TARDIS with you,” Loki added. 

“I know.” The Doctor gave Loki a friendly clap on the shoulder. “But I have a very strict rule: Only one psychopath on the TARDIS at a time. I’m not sure you actually qualify, but even so, staying here will be much better for you.”

The Doctor had chosen Peel very carefully as a place for Loki to begin his probation. 

Loki gave him a highly skeptical look. _“How?”_

“It’s safe and quiet and under the radar. No one will look for you here.”

“That’s because there’s nothing here.”

“Besides,” the Doctor went on, ignoring the side comment, “spending a little time on Earth among humans did your brother a world of good. I’m hoping it will do the same for you. A few months or years here, and--”

_“Years?”_

The Doctor waved a hand impatiently. “Human years are nothing for people like us. And the length of your stay will depend on your behavior.”

“So, that’s it?” Loki folded his arms. “I’m too much trouble for you, so you’re just going to dump me here and leave?”

“On the contrary. I plan to pop in quite regularly to see how you’re getting on. And in the meantime, I’ll be monitoring.”

The Doctor looked pointedly at the wristwatch he’d made Loki put on. The tracking device was much more sophisticated than it looked. More to the point, it didn’t come off.

“The rules are very simple,” the Doctor said. “You live here. You don’t leave the island, but beyond that you can move freely. Keep your nose clean and prove to me that you can be an upstanding member of society. Then we’ll renegotiate the terms of your asylum.” 

He could tell that Loki desperately wanted to argue, but what was there to argue? He had come to the Doctor for help. This was help.

“And what exactly am I supposed to do here?” he asked.

“Ah, that’s the best bit!” the Doctor said. “I’ve lined up a job for you at the Viking Heritage Museum. It’s entry-level, so you’re starting out in the gift shop. Retail is character building. You start first thing tomorrow morning.”

The look of nascent horror on Loki’s face was actually a little amusing. The Doctor grinned. “Come on!” he said, starting down the footpath toward the town. “We’ll spend today getting you acquainted with your new life.”

*****

_“Lukas Larsen.”_ Loki frowned down at his brand new identification card. “This picture is awful.”

“It’s an official ID. The pictures are always awful. It will help you blend in.” The Doctor propped his feet up on the footstool and consulted his list. He drew a line through _Documentation._ “So, that’s everything covered, I think.”

Official papers were the boring bit, so the Doctor had saved them for last.

They had started with _Gainful Employment_, stopping by the Viking Heritage Museum so that Loki could see his new workplace. The museum had, as one of its centerpieces, a replica of a Viking longship: _Odin’s Raven._ The Doctor hadn’t missed the face Loki pulled when he read the placard.

From there they had moved on to _Lodgings._ The small studio flat the Doctor had let in Lukas Larsen’s name was conveniently located over a chip shop. The place smelled of deep fried haddock and was furnished with a hodgepodge of second-hand and flat pack furniture. But the Doctor thought it was pleasant enough. And it was close enough to the museum that _Transportation_ was easily covered by the bicycle that was parked on the landing. 

“There’s a bank account set up in your name. Well, your alias,” the Doctor said. “There’s enough in it to keep you afloat until your pay starts to come in, but you _will_ need your job so I suggest you show up on time and make yourself agreeable.”

“You’re actually going to do this.” Loki sat down in the tartan armchair. “You’re going to leave me in this backwater to live as a human.”

“It’s this or one of Odin’s cells.”

Loki held up his hands in a gesture of grudging acceptance. “Well, humans do it, so I suppose it can’t be that difficult. As long as it’s not forever.”

“It won’t be,” the Doctor said. “You may even find that you enjoy it. It will be restful. You haven’t had much of that.”

The Doctor was choosing to be optimistic. Loki had always been a restless soul. A sleepy Earth town might be just the thing to help him cultivate some calm and peace of mind.

Of course there was every possibility that the restlessness would win out and boredom would drive Loki to do something reckless and crazy. The Doctor would put out that fire if and when it sprang up.

When it came time for the Doctor to take his leave, Loki walked back down to the street with him.

“Now, when I come back to check on you, I hope to see that you’ve settled in a bit,” the Doctor said. “Patronize the library. Buy a plant. Go to the beach. Try the pub quiz. Try making some friends.”

There was a tiny spark of wry amusement in Loki’s eyes. “Perhaps I can start with the library,” he said.

“That will do,” the Doctor replied. He gripped Loki’s shoulder. “You can do this, Loki. I believe in you.”

Of all the things the Doctor had thrown at him today, that was the one that seemed to take Loki a bit aback. He recovered quickly, though.

“Well, in that case I can feel my soul lightening already,” he said dryly.

“Cheeky.” The Doctor turned away before Loki could see him smile. “Take care, Loki. I’ll see you in the future.”


End file.
